M38 hood battery box

[evanso1975]

I picked up a good used hood battery box for my M38 a while back. There's a slotted hole near the base on the rear side:



I notice that the repro battery boxes have this hole too. Two questions:
1. What's it for?
2. Should it have a grommet or plug in it?

Thanks in advance.

[skyjeep50]

The battery box wasn't a sealed unit. If the jeep went swimming water had to drain from the box somewhere, hence the hole.

[G740]

The hole on the bottom of the box is for the arctic power plant heater kit. There was a plate that had coolant hose hooked to it to preheat the batteries for arctic weather starting.
John

[evanso1975]

The hole on the bottom of the box is for the arctic power plant heater kit. There was a plate that had coolant hose hooked to it to preheat the batteries for arctic weather starting.

Aha, that would make sense. Thanks John.

[wesk]

The kit John refers to is TB 9-2855-3 Powerplant Heater Kit. Some of the TB is in my photo album:




Item W lays in the bottom of the front battery box and those two tubes come out that hole. Item V goes in the cowl battery box and those two tube come out the bottom outboard of that box.


The boxes also receive these insulation panels.

[skyjeep50]

When the jeep wasn't driving on top of the ice with the arctic kit, it may have been swimming at the bottom of the river with need for a hole.